While many people think of strokes as something that happens to older people, children can also suffer from them.

An 11-year-old boy at the University of Kansas Hospital is trying to recover from multiple strokes.

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Kyle Goble is usually an incredibly active boy, his father said.

“He participates in basketball and baseball. We’ve done some flag football in the past,” said Keith Goble.

Kyle’s parents said they had no idea their healthy son was having a shower of small strokes two weeks ago when he started complaining of a pounding headache and blurred vision. He was also moving slower than normal.

“We’re really pretty good about getting to practice on time, if not early,” said Keith Goble. “By the time I was able to get him out of the house that morning, we were about 20 minutes late to practice.”

He said five days later, Kyle had a larger stroke.

“Your knees just buckle,” said Kyle’s mother, Terri Goble. “You’re, like, ‘Oh, my goodness. My child has had a stroke.’ It was devastating.”

Dr. Michael Abraham, a brain surgeon at the University of Kansas Hospital, said a clot was blocking blood flow to a critical part of Kyle’s brain.

Removing it was a race against time. Abraham said every minute the clot stayed there, 2 million neurons are dying.

“Using a type of stent that’s attached to a wire, I was able to deploy that stent into the clot, allow it to integrate itself into the clot and pull the clot out,” Abraham said.

Doctors said the size of the clot was about the length of a thumbnail. Now that it’s been removed, Kyle has been showing improvement every day. Thursday, he was able to get dressed with help for the first time in a while. He also laughed.

“He’s speaking more,” Abraham said. “Talking. Watching Royals games.”

“He made it all the way to the chair and they were like, ‘Do you want to rest?’” Terri Goble said, adding that Kyle said no. “He has that determination because he’s always been on sports teams.”

Kyle and his family will keep up that determination. They have faith that Kyle will be back out on the field soon.

“It will be fun to see him get back to the point where he was,” Keith Goble said.

Kyle has a long road ahead of him, including several more months in a hospital.Experts don’t want to alarm parents, but they urge people to know more about pediatric strokes, which is one of the top 10 causes of death for children and happens in 11 out of every 100,000 children each year.

Experts urge people to remember that the signs of stroke include weakness to the face, arms and legs, and difficulty speaking. Time is critical and anyone suspecting someone is having a stroke should call 911 immediately.